"Not in her shoes": North Carolina rallies against abortion restrictions

In North Carolina, GOP lawmakers are pushing an anti-abortion measure that could force clinics across the state to close their doors. SB 308 would place unnecessary restrictions on abortion providers that are likely to put them out of business.

Over-regulating abortion providers — an attempt to indirectly restrict women’s access to abortion services by forcing health clinics to shut down — is a popular anti-choice tactic advancing in states like Texas, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Alabama. But women’s health advocates in North Carolina are fighting back, reminding anti-choice lawmakers that it’s not their place to interfere with women’s personal medical decisions.

At a rally against SB 308 on Wednesday in the state’s capital city, North Carolinians sent a clear message: Lawmakers don’t know why women may need to seek an abortion, and they shouldn’t continue to place restrictions on the legal medical procedure. “You don’t walk in a woman’s shoes. You don’t know what she’s going through,” Paige Johnson, representing the Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina, said at the protest. “So don’t try to legislate her health decisions.”

As part of the protest, hundreds of women and men laid out shoes on the Halifax Mall in Raleigh, a symbol of support for every woman who wants the right to make her own reproductive health decisions based on her own unique circumstances. They also photographed messages of solidarity (all images via Planned Parenthood Action Center of North Carolina):

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